The crime novels are set in modern day Florence,
though they often refer back to the recent or distant past. The
stories are mostly based on real crimes committed in the city and
investigated by the carabinieri.

Out now on paperback

THE INNOCENT

It is spring in Florence and everyone around Marshal Guarnaccia
seems to be in love, even his own son. The case he is working on,
the murder of a young woman, seems to present no particular problems.
No distressed parents, no political or influential connections,
no pressure from the media. The investigation takes him only a few
steps from home, to the Boboli gardens and to the artisans' quarter
- where he knows everybody and everybody knows him.

Then everything changes. A second death follows and
Guarnaccia is convinced that it is his fault. The case becomes one
of the most distressing he's ever had to handle. Burdened with guilt,
he finds it impossible to trust his own instincts any more, but
he has to learn to do so before he can get at the truth...

Availability:

Hardback:
Out on the 02/06/05 Hardback, William Heinemann, London
(0434013382)

Royalties from the author's Josie Smith books go
to the Amin school for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Those from The
Enchanted Horse go to the Brooke Hospital for Animals which cares
for the working equines of the world's poorest people.

I am about to leave Italy for Kenya, to leave the streets of Florence
for the Rift Valley to do a sponsored horse ride in support of The
Brooke whose clinics give free treatment to the working equines
of the world’s poorest people. We shall be riding about 40km
a day—that, by my reckoning, is around six hours a day in
the saddle. An unknown saddle. On an unknown horse. So: where can
I get the £3,000 minimum sponsorship? And some yellow fever
vaccine (Italy has run out). And a seat saver. And….